Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - ACC and Big 12 Under FIRE from SEC Network's Paul Finebaum | Will They SURVIVE Playoff Expansion?

Episode Date: June 4, 2025

ACC football takes center stage as Paul Feinbaum's controversial comments spark heated debate. Is the SEC analyst crossing the line with his playoff format suggestions?Jackson Holzer and Kenton Gibbs dissect Feinbaum's remarks, labeling him an "SEC propagandist" while advocating for fair representation in an expanded College Football Playoff. The duo explores ideal formats, emphasizing on-field performance over conference prestige. They also tackle the impact of transfers on rivalries, using Ven Allen Lubin's move from UNC to NC State as a prime example. Gibbs challenges listeners to reconsider their views on player mobility.Don't miss this passionate discussion on conference dynamics, media bias, and the future of college football. Tune in for insider perspectives and thought-provoking analysis that will reshape your understanding of the sport. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

According to Paul Feinbaum, the ACC, and the Big 12, for that matter, we should include them in this conversation. They should just roll over and die. You are Locked-on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello, everyone. I'm Jackson Holzer, the host of Locked-on Syracuse filling in for Alex Dono. he's on vacation. He's exploring the wonderful land of Europe. And so that's why I'm in here, the host of Lockdown, Syracuse. Of course, we're always joined by Kenton, or by Kenton Gibbs,

excuse me, the host of Lockdown Wolfpack and former NC State defensive tackle. I'm getting all the nervous jitters out of the way here, even though I've done this with you several times here on this podcast. On today's show, rivalries in college sports, how they are affected with the transfer portal, especially when a player goes from one conference rival to another conference rival. We'll talk about that later on in the show. But first, SEC network analyst, SEC apologist, Paul Feinbaum, he blasts the ACC and the Big 12 again. And we're going to get into it here on today's show. But first, today's episode is brought to you by Fandu right now new customers can get $200 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins.

Kenton, did you see the article from On 3 earlier this week? Yes, sir. I read through the article and I want to say one thing before we get into the context of the article. I think that you're selling short what Paul Feinbaum is. He's not just the SEC apologies. He's an SEC propagandist outright. Right. You know, he like many members, of ESPN are that just because that's how and what they have functioned to be.

I want to make, you know, want to make that very clear before we move any further here that it is, it is beyond apparent to us that like, hey, there's not, it is beyond apparent to us that there's a very vested interest in protecting and holding the SEC up as, hey, this is our crown jewel. There definitely is tenton, but I will also clarify this or I do want to. to say that I want to be realistic here. Like I do acknowledge that the SEC in general is a better football conference and it is the best football conference in America. I think we can all agree on that. But the- I think the-

I think the big team is better. I think the-together better. I think the big team is better. But I don't think there's an argument. I think there's an argument. I think there's an argument. But I think they're making an argument, but I think it's a pretty weak argument. But regardless, I- All I'm saying this, all I've said this, ever since players been getting paid. a lot of championships have migrated north for some reason. Hmm, very interesting to see. Well, that's two. I mean, Ohio State and Michigan, right?

Proceed, brother. Proceed. I don't want to get too deep in the weeds of that because we got our conference to talk about. Yeah, we got to talk about the ACC here. But we all, we say this to say we understand that the SEC and the Big Ten are better football conferences, but just the stuff that is out there about how much more superior they are to everyone else and all the excuses and the fact that six and six teams to go nine and three or ten and two in every other conference as if like Texas, you know, wasn't into Big 12 for so many

years and didn't do anything for 20 years. You know, that's neither here nor there. But anyways, so SEC network analyst Paul Feinbaum, he was asked on the McElroy and Kubalik show what he would do if he were one of the commissioners of the ACC or the Big 12 in regards to the college football playoff, which I think we all know is at some point in time is going to expand. It's not if it's when it's expanded from 12 teams to 14 or 16. And we're all having these debates about what the format should be. And without getting into all the quotes of the article here, Paul Feinbaum basically told the ACC and the Big 12 to just agree to whatever the SEC and Big 10 say. So if they say you get one or two qualifiers, that's it. Don't put up a fight. Just

submit. That's that. He also then went on to say, quote, quite frankly, if they get a couple of automatic qualifiers, that's probably more than they deserve. Kenton, what are your thoughts on what Paul Feinbaum said? I think that it's, again, the entitlement. It is the entitlement. It is the we deserve just because we deserve. I'm sorry, you have to go out there and prove it.

If these are people that are in your category and in your ilk and in your brand, you have to go out there and prove it against them. I have been a big proponent and people will say, well, Kenon, you apply that logic to the city. the ACC, why didn't it apply to the group of five as well? Anybody who knows me knows since the playoff was invented. I always said it should be 12 teams and you should have all of every single conference champion that's rated inside the RPI top 35 to 40 in that situation.

And anybody that's outside of that, your conference champion is replaced by that large bid. I have always said that because I believe in line it the hell up. I believe in, if you believe that you are that much better than everybody else, go show it. Show everybody how much better you are and let that be that. But more over than that, in that article, there was a quote about, it was from Paul Five, I'm saying it was so frustrating to talk to all of these commissioners and head coaches and pretend like, or I'm sorry, let me not misquote his words here.

Let me pull up the article and get the exact wording here. the exact wording was it is so frustrating to talk to commissioners and coaches and have to make sure that SMU gets an equal opportunity. That was what he called frustrating. Talking to every commissioner of football coach at the best league in the country and at a high point, try to act like we have to make sure SMU gets an equal opportunity. Well, that's not what this is all about anymore. what what god-given right does bama have to be better than smu i i don't know other than the

they're alabama well see i was told that they had that same right over vanderbilt and and something weird happened in that small little stadium that was under construction that vanderbilt had going on there something odd happened there i was told kenton hold on wait a minute so you're telling me that Alabama lost to Vanderbilt? But that's my point. Really? That's my point. That's my point.

Again, all of these 14-point, double-digit favorites, double-digit favorites in multiple games that they lost. We know, we know. And again, my heart goes out to the poor players from the SEC because the average college football team only has to play 12 games before the playoff starts. But every team in the SEC has to play 12 games

plus a million hypothetical. So I'm so sorry to those teams. And I appreciate their labor of being undefeating those hypotheticals. But when you line it up, all of a sudden, funny things start happening. All of a sudden, you look around and say, well, wait a damn minute. This conference and these teams, they're supposed to be superior, are putting out some pretty bad results. So I'm a big reporter to line it up. I'm a big reporter of, hey, if you think you're a champ, if you think you're the best,

if you think your tops, go out there and prove it. And if they go out there and prove it, I've got no problem with that. You and I just talked about the fact that we acknowledge the ACC is behind the SEC and the Big Ten. We're not delusional. We're saying, line it the hell up. Yes, SMU should get an equal opportunity. Why shouldn't they? Why doesn't a team, it's not just about SMU.

Hell, Southern Miss deserves an equal opportunity. You know why? Because they are an FDS program. If they run the table, guess where they should be. in the playoff. And teams should have to see them about that and say, you know what, this team from the Sun Belt, we got to take care of.

We got to show them why they are where they are and why we are where we are. And if you lose, you damn lose. But I wholeheartedly despise the thought that multiple teams could run the table and be left out. I wholeheartedly despise it. Well, Kent, and I think we can keep going

with this conversation here because, yeah, the SEC, they definitely like to whine. So coming up, we'll talk more about what we'll talk more about what we do in an ideal college football playoff format. That's coming up next here on Locked on ACCC. The NBA finals are just about ready to begin and every night delivers highlight worthy performances, major momentum shifts, and can't miss moments, whether it's a game winning shot or a breakout player, there's never been a better time to get in on the action. and Fandu makes it easy to stay in the game before tip off and live with player props,

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Of course, we're always joined by Kenton Gibbs, former NC State defensive tackle, and one of the hosts of Lockedon Wolfpack alongside Bracon Boone, who may also be filling in this week on Locked-on ACC. So stay tuned throughout the week. And we can continue this conversation here with Paul Feinbaum blasting the ACC and how if he were one of the commissioners, right, of the ACC or Big 12, he would just basically listen to whatever the SEC or Big Ten say. They say that the conference should only get one or two qualifiers.

That should be it and they should have no complaints. Kenton, you kind of alluded to this earlier. When the college football playoff expands, what is your ideal playoff format? My ideal playoff format, I've talked about it a ton on there, off air, on Twitter, all that good stuff. everybody gets a shot in terms of, again, any conference champion inside the RPI top 35, you get an auto bid. Anybody, and from there, we take out all the rest and say, all right, those are at large. We figure it out.

We let the computers decide or whatever the case may be. But in the computers deciding, we cannot use things like strength of schedule in terms of like the first four weeks of the season. because to me that doesn't really strength of schedule. I mean, what are you basing that off of? Right? Like you're saying, oh, this team should be top 10. This team was that last year based on strength of schedule, Boston College had the top 10 win last year.

You know, that's just what that is. It's not, no, no, no. I want to see what do you actually do. And we know what these teams are to some degree. This is what has happened. This is who has come out in the wash. This is what is shaking out. these games. So that would be my ideal scenario. My most realistic scenario would probably be

to spread them across if you're going to do guarantees, do, you know, two to three per conference with contingencies on it, right? Or two to four with contingencies in terms of, hey, your teams have to be in such a position in terms of your football power index or RPR or whatever you want to say in order to get it. Because I am wholeheartedly against your fourth team will always be better than everybody else's third. That is insane. That is just not. And even if you're saying, well, Ken, most years, that will apply.

Well, fine. I'm still saying that one year deserves the privilege. And if your team is better, then most years, wouldn't they just get in anyway? Wouldn't they just be the proven commodity that gets there anyway? Right now, we're arguing for teams who got blew out by Oklahoma to get in to, the player. That's what this argument is about. But Kenton, Kenton, Kenton, if Oklahoma was in the Big 12 or the ACC,

they'd run all over those teams, right? I mean, surely we don't have all this data, right, from when they were in other conferences, and they definitely won all the national championships, right? They always won the conference. Of course, of course. You know, Texas has a ton of big 12 championships in the past decade or so. You know, that's just how good they are. That's just what they're working with. But again,

line it up and play it out. I believe in if everybody gets to and then you say, hey, if you have multiple teams inside of a certain ranking, let's say the top 20 or so, they're guaranteed, I'm a spot in. But beyond that, I would be okay with, you know, those types of situations happening. But these guaranteed four or five bids, come on, man, come on. Knock it off. Knock it all. I'm sorry to tell you all, it should not be that way that we're looking up and asking ourselves,

is there a world where your fourth best team cannot possibly be worse than somebody else's third best? That's just foolishness. I pretty much agree with everything you said. I would give similar, I would say obviously the four power conference champions plus a group of five get the automatic bid. And that's it. There should be no concessions as to, oh, well, this conference should get two, this conference should get three.

before a season. Because again, you don't know. You think you know, you don't actually know. Like, are you sure? Let's say Clemson is the third best team in the ACC next year. Are you sure that they can't be top three in the SEC? Like, are you definitively sure right now on June 3rd?

The season doesn't start until August that if Clemson was in the SEC right, now that they can't be top three. They can't. It's impossible. That's my point. Because it's possible they do. I think Clemsons, I think we can all agree. Clemson's the favorite out of the ACC, but there are a couple of really good teams. If Carson Beck is healthy for Miami, maybe they, it's finally their year and they can win the conference. SMU is going to be really good again. Maybe Clemson has a really strong year, but they finish third in the ACC. Louisville, right there. They have all the making. Yeah.

Right. So my point is that we should not be giving out automatic qualifiers like they're cotton candy. I wouldn't even give two automatic qualifiers to these conferences. That includes the ACC. You can flip it around up to me right now and say, hey, Jackson. You know what? Would you take four automatic ACC teams and only two for the SEC? I know selfishly that would be great for us.

But again, it would still make no sense. It would make absolutely no sense. You can't do that. You can't do it at all. It's almost like in pro sports and I know they're different. But imagine if you're like, okay, you know, I'm a big hockey fan. I'm a big hockey fan. Imagine if we're like, hey, so the Atlantic Division in hockey,

they've represented the Eastern Conference every year since 2019. So a metropolitan team has not been in the Stanley Cup in the last six, seven years. Right. because of this fact, you know what we're going to do, Kenton, before the next season? We're going to give five automatic playoff spots to the Atlantic Division and the Metro gets won. Yeah. It doesn't make sense. You don't know what's going to happen next year.

It's the same thing in college football here. You don't know if the third best team in the SEC is going to be better than the third best team in the ACC. So all these automatic qualifiers, you get one for winning your conference. That's it. Yeah. Because that's what? There could also be scenarios where the SEC is miles better than everyone. And they get five teams, that there should be five in there.

And the ACC gets one, or they get two, or the Big Ten has a down year. I don't even know why this is he would want this. And if they line it up and they make that happen, if they line it up and they show like, hey, we deserve five, six, seven teams in. I'm okay with that. I'm okay with that. But I'm not okay with swearing. Oh, our best are better than your best and our mid is better than your mid.

Georgia was one of the best teams in the SEC last year. No if, ands or buts about it. Now, Georgia Tech, while having a year that many would say, hey, not necessarily the greatest. You had some injury problems. At your most important position, you had a lot going on there.

Well, what seemed to happen when those two lined it up? Georgia was a big-time favorite. Eight overtimes. Double-digit favorite to eight over-difert. So again, Georgia, keep in mind that Georgia had to stage a fourth quarter comeback just to get to overtime. Exactly. So again, I'm more than happy. I am more, more than happy. I'm not even a better. I'm not even one of those degenerate gamblers that, you know, fan dudes just love to see me coming. I'm not one of those guys. But I'll tell you what, whenever you talk about these games in terms of, oh, what people believe or project is going to happen versus what actually happened.

in terms of ACC and SEC in terms of, oh, the SEC is just giving this guy, giving right to be superior to every other conference. I will gladly, gladly, gladly say, oh, yeah, I've got a lot of faith in the ACC here. I've got a lot of faith in the ACC here because propagandists like Paul Feinbaum are the, they're the majority. You and I, we're in the minority here. You and I, we're into smaller platforms here because we've seen on air even before Jordan Travis broke his leg a few years.

go. They were talking on ESPN about who gets left out in these scenarios. And Florida State was the team that they were discussing getting left out despite being undefeated. And mind you, this is before the injury. So again, the propaganda has to stop at a certain point in time. We have to acknowledge, yes, you know, you talk all this about, oh, these teams get more players drafted. And I, again, the same Georgia team that had three offensive linemen drafting the top of 100, everybody keeps swearing up and down. They could not run the ball and they were not good at pass protection. Three players drafted off of an offensive line that people are saying, hey, they were bad.

They were a bad group. So again, they did line it up. Don't tell me about stars. Don't tell me about drafts. Don't tell me about none of that. I don't care about none of it because how many players will NIU have drafted against that Notre Dame team they play? Hmm.

Did anyone get drafted from them? Hmm. How many players? players with that Boise State team that beat Oklahoma have drafted against them. How many do they have there? Chanteen. Oh, no, no. I'm talking about the Ian Johnson years way, way back when I was going to say.

I don't remember Boise State even playing Oklahoma. But you get my point. At the end of the day, it's always about all the stars and who gets drafted and who looks best on paper and who should win it. Oh, we beat this team by 1,000 until you line it up. Until you line it up. And football, the beauty of it is one-on-one. It's not like basketball.

It's not like pro basketball, rather. College basketball has the same thing with March Madness. It's one-of-one. You get one game to be on your A-game, to be on your best stuff, to bring the best that you got. Everybody told me, oh, that Drew Aller kid, he's much better than Riley Leonard. When I said on this show, if it comes down to quarterback play,

I got Notre Dame. People told me I was crazy. Hmm, how'd that game turn out? How did it end? Oh, oh, okay. So, you know, I thought Penn State was going to win. Line it up. But at the end of the day, this is why we lined up anyway.

It's not like I was. Yeah, and I agree. But this is why we lined it up because Drew Aller is a guy that people are saying, oh, he's going to be number one in the next year's drive. That's your number one pick there. And he got outplayed by a guy that was a fifth or six-round pick and rather than maybe fourth. I can't remember, but somewhere in that ballpark.

So, again, line it to hell up. and let's let what happens happens. And by the way, don't you think it's odd that the Big Ten ain't whining and complaining and belly aching all over the place? We need more. Give us more. Because I think the Big Ten is just happy that the SEC, for whatever reason, keeps including them.

I don't really understand it here. It's like the SEC is almost trying to create this like, all right, it's the SEC and Big Ten versus the ETC in Big 12. But it's really the Big Ten, it just, they always kind of seem to stay out of the headlines. They're kind of just minding their own business. business. They're kind of just like, we're going to do what we're doing. We don't really care because the SEC is is doing us favors. So, you know, my, you know, the Big Ten is really just

propped up by like a few teams and then everyone else is pretty much garbage. But that's neither here nor there. But that's every conference that people don't want to acknowledge it. That's every conference. Every conference you go to, you've got two, maybe three, really good teams, four teams that people consider contenders. Beyond those top four, there's, um, you may have a good team or two that people convince themselves, oh, when this team's good, they can beat anybody in America. Well, are they good all the time? No.

No. Oh, okay. Oh, okay. Well, then don't tell me about your fourth best team. Tell me about the team that have consistently done this. Don't tell me about, oh, this team has a great win, because great wins are not the only place that champions are made. Champions are made by consistency, by doing it the right way,

every single time. That's where champions are made. Not just, I've got big wins. I got a couple big wins. Don't look at what we lost to. Yeah, Alabama had great wins, but the problem is that they had bad losses. Yes. That's the issue that we continue to talk about, how it's, yes, we acknowledge Alabama.

You beat some really good teams last year. Yes. But you also lost to Vanderbilt. You lost to Oklahoma. Like if you, we are reasonable people. If you went nine and three and your three losses were Georgia, Texas and Oregon, all on the road by one store, you know what it'd be saying? That's a college football playoff team. I don't care that they're nine and three.

Go look at who they had to play. Go look at their losses. Go look at some of their wins. That is definitely a top 12 team in the country. they should get in over SMU or whatever. They should get in. I'm sorry SMU. Like you just don't have that on your resume.

You didn't get that opportunity. It's not always about getting sucked into the record. It's what you did within that record. Obviously there's within reason. Like you're not going to ever argue an eight and four or a seven and five team. But once you get to nine and three, you start getting on borderline of being worthy of college football playoff. The issue is that you lost to Vander, Bill and you lost to Oklahoma, how are you going to sit here and tell me that you would

definitely have been so much better than SMU in the college football playoff? I don't know if you would have. Which team was going to show up that day? The one to beat Georgia? The one to beat Georgia or the one that put up three points against Oklahoma, which team is going to show up? I don't know. Guess what?

If it's the one that beat Georgia, then that team could maybe win the national championship. Yeah. Yeah. But what if it's the team that lost Oklahoma? Well, congratulations. He would have done the same thing that S&M. them you did. You would have gotten your butt-wipped in round one.

We all would have been saying, how come we took Alabama? How come we took a nine-win SEC team? But I think we're good on this conversation, right? Absolutely. Absolutely. I'm always good to talk about those winters in the SEC and how nobody will be deserved more

for the special good boys. Yeah, you get all the playoff teams, you get all the glory, you get favored in March Madness, and you're still complaining. It doesn't make any sense. But regardless, we'll move on from that. And coming up, we'll talk about rivalries in college sports,

especially how they're affected when a player transfers within the same conference from rival schools. That's coming up next on Locked on ACC. This is Locked on ACC. I'm Jackson Holzer, the host of Lockedon, Syracuse. Of course, we're always joined by Kenton Gibbs, one of the hosts of Locked-on Wolfpack and former NC State defensive tackle Kenton. NC State has been in the news lately, specifically their basketball program. And since we're talking basketball here, hold on, I've got to switch my background.

He's going to switch the background. There we go. The background switches. We're not talking about Syracuse. Don't worry. Syracuse basketball is still not very good, although we'll see what happens next year with Kian Anthony and Sadiq White. But, hey, NC State basketball with Will Wade, they're looking pretty good right now. they got another transfer portal edition, Van Allen Lubin, from North Carolina.

Ooh, going from North Carolina to NC State. He's definitely not the first player to transfer within the same conference. So obviously, NC State and UNC are a rivalry. So I'm going to defer to you here. How do you think this impacts that rivalry specifically? And then can you speak more about how this affects, rivalries in general when a player transfers within the same conference to a rival school. It makes them better. It makes them better the same way that Brett Farr going and playing for

the Vikings did for the Vikings and Packers robbery. It does the same thing in essence. I want to explain something to people here. The righteous indignation that I've seen, oh, he's a traitor and we hate him and all that. I love that because that's what makes rivalries great. That's what make college rivalries really amazing. The fact that, like, I don't like you. I don't like you guys. I hate everything about you guys. This is, I cannot stand you.

You are sprupleous people that, you know, this is, you are who you are for a reason. That's what makes college sports great. That's what makes these rivalries great. And I've seen some people saying, oh, you know, for example, there was a gentleman in Grayson and I's comments saying, oh, you all are happy to take a tar hill and that's just, you know, your fan base should be embarrassed of you. It was a Tar Hill fan that said that. And I said, that's very interesting.

Did you feel the same way about Joaquin Harris coming to be your starting safety? Jakeen Harris was a starting safety at NC State for years towards ACL. And then after you towards ACL, you know how people say you can't lose your spot injury. That's a lot. It's a lot. It's a lot. Yeah, Wally Pip. Exactly.

He got Wally Piping. But it wasn't quite Wally Piping, because, you know, the, the, the, Theory is, Wally Pippton had a little bit too much of drink that night. But either way you cut and slice it, he ends up at North Carolina. There wasn't the same, oh, I can't believe that there would be people even excited over here that we would take such a player. At the end of the day, these players are making what the best decision is for them for whatever reasons. We can talk about, oh, with the NIL and transfer portal, it's not just transfer. And they're all transferring for money.

we can have that conversation. But at the end of the day, there are plenty of times in life where we have left jobs, maybe for the same pay or not much of a pay raise, but it was a better environment, better situation, more aligned with what we wanted to do in our future, all that type of stuff. There are a myriad of reasons that things like this happen. And I think that it's best for the sport when you hate the guy, your criticisms. You talk about how you never liked them, his jump shot for him is ugly, his headband is stupid, yada, yada, yada, so and so forth. It's great when we acknowledge that.

I think it's kind of lame when it's like, oh, you know, how could y'all even take a guy that you said all these things about? It's sports. Fan is short for fanatic. You know somebody's being fanatical about players when they're talking about either their team or their rival. That how this game goes. So let's not make a mountain out of a mole here.

I pretty much agree with you 100%, which is kind of an issue. We never really agree. We never really agree. You know, the way I thought about it is, I know I'm really young and I get it. Imagine if Christian Leitner can play for North Carolina. How crazy would that be? Eish.

Like obviously, I'm not sitting here saying Van Allen Lubin is like Christian Leitner or everything like that or like even with all due respect, UNC, NC State is not UNC and Duke in terms of rivalry in college basketball. Not the same thing at all. But it's just it makes them more intriguing and better. In fact, I think it's much better with the portal than it was kind of pre-portal, and there was this period of one and done. So, yeah, you would have the players going to the school and they wouldn't leave to go to another school,

but then they would just leave after one year to go to the NBA. Right. At least now they can transfer, stay in college, and I think it makes it more intriguing that they can transfer within the conference and go to a rival school. And I know it's kind of hard for people to kind of fathom. But, you know, I'm sure there's some Syracuse fans who might be watching or listening to this podcast. Okay, go imagine if Patrick Ewing from Georgetown can go play for Syracuse. I know.

Or that Pearl Washington makes a stunning move and goes to Georgetown. Like, this is the stuff that could have happened had this system been in place. And I know it sounds nuts and that that's crazy and that we would never have liked it then. I think it makes them so much more intriguing. I absolutely love what this does to rivalry because you go from hating a player at one school to now you love this guy. Now you're like, yeah, Van Allen Lubin,

we love him, go NC state, right? And it makes the North Carolina fans pissed off. And then vice versa, when it happens to your school, you're like, I hate this. This sucks. That's what ultimately rivalries are about. Absolutely. So I love it.

And I think the system has its flaws. I don't think it's perfect. But I love when a player can go from a school like North Carolina and go to NC State. If I remember correctly, Vanna-O. Lubin was the one who entered the portal and then said he was like entering the portal just to return to North Carolina. That's, I think, what I think people are annoyed about with North Carolina. Not only that, this is his fourth school in four years. I understand the critiques of, trust me, I'm Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, UNC, now NC State. I understand the critiques.

I understand that there are problems. There's other things that, you know, you can get upset about. You can talk about all that, that stuff. To me, the energy behind, oh, he transferred to a rival. How could he and how could you accept them? Come on, man. Come on, come on, come on. If you work at, if you work for meta and, you know, X is offering you more money,

Twitter is offering you more money to jump over there. You're jumping. You're jumping. You're not going to say, no, those are our rivals. What do you mean? Bight Dance wants me to come over there. I'm not working for TikTok. You would look at yourself like an idiot. And you're in rightfully so. And those companies are rivals. But you understand as an adult making the best decision for me and my family. This is what works for me and my family in this moment to succeed. And that's where we're going. At the end of the day, that's what these young men are deciding, even if it is their rival. You know, Kenton how we spent the first 25 minutes of ripping Paul Feimbaum?

Yeah. If you wanted to work for ACC Network, I would take him. Listen, I have always said. I would take him. I would sit here and say, be an apologist for us. Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something. If Paul Feinbaum...

We need a propaganda guy. If Paul Feinbaum were actually the commissioner of the ACC in the Big Club, there's no way in hell he'd roll over. He'd be fighting, claw, and tooth and nail to get the best for the ACC in the Big 12. You know why? Paul Feinbaum's good at his job. He's good at his job. He's a propagandist that does a great job of spending. He does a great job of pushing the propaganda.

He does a great job. I wouldn't expect him to stop it with the ACC. So, yeah, if he wanted to work for the ACC in any capacity, I mean, I don't think the ACC would say no. I think they would be foolish to say no just because he comes from a rival conference. Who cares? Exactly. He makes us better.

Van Allen Lubin makes NC State better. Of course they're going to accept him. What is this a plant? You think maybe it is a plant. Maybe this is North Carolina's plant. It's a plant. That's interesting. He's in a tank.

That's so interesting. What Louisville had with Brandon Huntley-Haffield. He's going to tank. Ah, that's the plan all along. You're playing some 3D chess. You're doing the knowledge. You're doing the knowledge, Jacksonville. That's what we do here on Lockdown, ACC.

We do the knowledge. Kenton, anything else you want to add to this conversation here? No, I think that I think we left it at a great place. But I will say one more thing, actually. Now that you presented that, I will take the time and say one more thing. I want fans, listeners, viewers, everybody, take a second and think about who's allowed to change scenery and who's not and why you have that perception. Let's just take a second to think about that. That's a much broader conversation that we don't have the time.

We could do a million shows on that. But I just want you to put that little seed in your brain of why are coaches allowed to move freely? and there's no problem, but players, it's a much different situation. Just take that, take it with a brand of salt and think about it. All right. Well, we talked about it off there a little bit, but basically the perception is that players, for whatever reason or one reason or another,

fans expect loyalty out of players, but they're more loyal to the team. So they want the team to make the best decision for the team, generally, but they expect that the players are going to also do what's best for the team that they cheer for. Yeah. That's that's just how it generally is in society. That's how we think.

I'll tell you right now how I think. I root for my teams and I don't expect loyalty from the players. I expect the players to, when they are with my team, to give it 110%. They're going to give it their all. and when an opportunity presents itself to potentially move, they have to do what's best for themselves. I don't hold, if they want to go for one reason or another, they can go.

There's the door. If they want to stay, well, I hope that my team can figure it out. Or if my team says, you know what, we don't watch you back. That's that. Like I generally just like, you know what? Everyone has their own decisions to make. I don't really go one way or another. That's why people, especially with Syracuse and when Trevor Pena left,

I was basically a Trevor Pena, apologist because I didn't care that he left. I care that it hurt my football team because it made them worse, but as far as him personally, he made a decision. Like, that's that's that. I'm not going to sit here and call him out for it.

But that's a good conversation to leave with all our viewers and all our listeners. And folks, what are your thoughts? Comment in the comment section below, rivalries in college sports, what the ACC should do when the college football. playoff expands. And of course, if you disagree with us in the comment section below,

please feel free. Tell us why you believe that myself and Kenton Gibbs were idiots. We have no idea what we're talking about. Feel free. Just comment in the comment section below. You guys are idiots. And tell us why. We'd love to hear from you in the comments section below. And thank you for making Lockdown ACCC, your first listen today. And for your second listen, you can check out the Lockdown Portal show with football recruiting expert Brian Smith, who's at the latest rumors and signings each and every day, you can be the most informed fan on the rapid changes to the college football land state, find the portal podcast on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

And folks, thank you all so much for watching. Thank you all so much for listening. And we'll see you all again soon.